Lesson 5 of 8 · 12 min

Building automation rules

WHEN / IF / THEN rules that automate your practice.

Lesson 5 of 8

Automations are firm-wide rules that run independently of any single workflow. This lesson covers the WHEN / IF / THEN editor and how to build your first rule.

Before you start

  • Manager access or above — automations require the 'manage automations' permission

What automations are

An automation is a rule that fires background actions when something happens in the system. They live under Settings > Automations, a manager-and-above area. The list page shows every rule with its trigger, last run, and an active toggle, plus a monitoring summary of recent runs. Automations are separate from workflow stage actions — they can react to events across all matters, not just one stage.

The WHEN / IF / THEN structure

The editor is built in three colour-coded bands. WHEN is the trigger — the event that starts the rule (chosen from the 'Trigger Type' dropdown). IF holds optional conditions: all conditions must pass (AND logic), and leaving it empty means the rule always runs when triggered. THEN is the ordered list of actions that execute. You give the rule a name and a trigger first and save with 'Create & Configure'; conditions and actions unlock once the rule exists.

Triggers and actions

The Trigger Type dropdown exposes 16 event types — including Matter Created, Matter Updated, Step Changed, Task Created/Completed/Overdue, Key Date Reached, Field Updated, Document Uploaded, Email Received, Contact Added, Form Submitted, Webhook Received, Schedule (Cron), Time Elapsed, and Manual Trigger. When you add an action, the action picker offers 10 types: Create Task, Complete Task, Send Email, Update Field, Change Step, Add Matter Role, Create Key Date, Send Webhook, Notify Users, and Create Calendar Event.

  1. 1

    Open Automations

    Go to Settings > Automations. The header carries 'New Automation' and 'Templates' buttons; a first-time firm sees a 'Put your routine follow-ups on autopilot' prompt with 'Start from a template' and 'Create from scratch'. Click 'New Automation' to build one by hand.

    Settings > Automations — the home for firm-wide rules and their run history.
  2. 2

    Build a WHEN / IF / THEN rule

    Name the rule and pick a Trigger Type in the WHEN band, then save ('Create & Configure'). Add conditions in the amber IF band (all must pass; leave empty to always run) and actions in the green THEN band. Actions run in order and can be reordered. Save the automation when you're done.

    The editor's three bands: WHEN (trigger) / IF (conditions) / THEN (actions).

Tips & pitfalls

  • Conditions and actions stay locked until you save the rule once — that's why the first save button reads 'Create & Configure'.
  • Give each rule a clear, action-describing name (e.g. "Email client when a matter opens") — the list shows names, so good ones make your whole set easy to scan later.

Key takeaways

  • Automations are firm-wide rules under Settings > Automations (manager+)
  • Every rule is WHEN (trigger) / IF (conditions, AND logic) / THEN (ordered actions)
  • The editor exposes 16 trigger types and 10 action types
Connecting actions to stages Chaining automations

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